Commissioner for the Protection of Equality, Brankica Janković, condemns the statement of Biljana Kovačević, Emergency Department Chief in Čačak hospital, who said at the press conference in Čačak General Hospital: “You know, time is running out for all of us in some service, a nurses aged 23 and 53, working in emergency department, cannot provide same quality of service, to be honest”, explaining her statement that nurse Vesna Vujčić “does not contribute to quality functioning of emergency department”.

Such statement denies the quality of women’s work because of their age, belittling their knowledge, competences and experience and thus presents discrimination on grounds of age. Researches and data obtained by Commissioner for the Protection of Equality indicate that women in Serbia have more difficulties to find employment, are being dismissed more easily, more often they are forced to work in grey zone, while their age often present one of the most common grounds of discrimination, which is why this statement has additional weight.

In the same time, such attitudes create legal uncertainty and contribute to spreading of misunderstanding among the generations, which is detrimental to the development of the whole society, especially for the labor market and employment, concluded Commissioner Janković, underlining that discrimination on the grounds of gender, disability, age, nationality, political, syndical or other membership, as well as of other real or presumed personal characteristics is forbidden.